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In Which I Hope Neil Young Will Remember
July 2, 2008 by Mike
Scanzano Jonico
Route: Calounia Marina - Crotone - Scanzano Jonico
It was time to pay up and leave Camping Afrodite.
Bruno, who had been really interested to hear about the journey and how long I've been on the road, was concerned. "Mike, if you haven't got any money, you stay here for free, OK?"
"That's so kind, but there's no need," I told him. Which is how it should be: it was very kind.. but he's running a business and with only two small families staying in the site, it's not as if he could do without my money. Besides, it was the cheapest site I've seen in weeks.
"If you are sure, Mike?" Bruno checked the prices written on the wall behind him:
One adult - €3.50.
One tent (small) - €2.50.
One motorbike - €2.
"Eight euros a night," said Bruno, "but we'll call it €30 for the four nights, OK."
Which is very generous, I'm sure you'll agree.
So generous, that I couldn't bring myself to point out that I'd only been there for three nights.
Bruno -- you're a star. A gentle, thoughtful, interesting man. But you're either a very canny businessman.. or no businessman at all. Write the book I know you have inside you instead!
--
I went to say goodbye to the folks in the bar as well. (Antonio, did you want me to publish on the internet the top secret password for your broadband wi-fi connection, or not? I can't quite remember.)
I also had to get past a man who spoke excellent English, talked about his "powerful" friends who were building housing developments here to rival the Spanish costas and would I be interested in investing? Err, in a part of the country where anyone's "powerful" friends are mafiosi? I don't think so.
(But I did ask him to fly to Spain to see what it looks like there and ask himself if you could do that to his own community. And pointed out the collapse in the housing market there has left many investors seriously out of pocket. He probably wouldn't want to start losing money for his "powerful" friends.)
Benidorm today - Calounia tomorrow? Please, please, no.
--
I found the country north of Calouria fascinating in a bleak, empty kind of way. It resembled what I assume Arizona to look like. Only in my head, I got Arizona confused with Alabama (where I've been - and it looks nothing like this).
So I started singing "Alabama" by Neil Young.
Naturally, I countered with "Sweet Home Alabama" by Lynyrd Skynyrd, which was written as a reply to the first song. And which mentions 'Muscle Shoals', at which point I smiled because I realised it's been too long since I was able to include the picture of me and celebrated Muscle Shoals resident and music industry legend, Osmonds' record producer Rick Hall:
I stopped at Capo Rizzuto for a tomato and mozzarella panini with a couple of surprise ingredients: tuna and sausage. It's lucky I'm not a vegetarian (but too many more of those sandwiches and I might be tempted.)
--
There's a great house at Ciro Marina, overlooking the south side of the town and the sea. Too big for now.. I'll be back when I have a wife and several kids.
--
Not much to be said about the coast road. It's long and straight and the small towns it passes through are, well, small. Not much else. Occasional glances to my left, and those temptingly winding roads up into the mountains, but I'm not tempted.
Past Fiumarella the land flattens out into a low green valley. There's thunder and rain a few miles inland, but I'm getting braver at guessing (correctly) that it'll stay there. I'm more interested in another ancient site, Sybaris Copia, recommended by Antonio. It's where people lived a "sybaritic" lifestyle.. which sounds pretty good to me.
Sadly, the ruins are tiny, and crap. The museum is tiny, and crap. And the staff is enormous, and crap. Seven people on duty, as far as I could see. I slowed down in order not to have to go and collect my helmet and jacket from reception in less than five minutes. There were no words of explanation in Italian, let alone English, for half the stuff, which had been stuffed into glass cases in a seemingly random order. Half the cases were empty. And guess what -- the staff were wholly unapologetic.
I've had enough. Mike's New Rule When Dealing With Italian Museums:
If it only costs 2€ to get in, get out - quick. Because even the Italians realise what's on display is useless.
--
Free viewing instead: more towers. They've littered the coast for 100s of miles. Norman, Saracen, Byzantine, Napoleonic. Pretty.
I'd need a couple of young families to support before I'd have to consider buying one and doing it up as a family house. but.. hmmm.. it might be worth it.
--
To Scanzano Jonico, a depressing, concrete blot on the landscape (with a cheap motel, and the coastal town closest to the inland village of Aliano - reason enough for any and every traveller down these parts to stop for the night. Because tomorrow I get to Aliano itself. I cannot wait. Are you as excited as me?
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